The Prime Minister and the Pope
Justin Trudeau has finally met the Pope, in theory, his spiritual head, to whom he (Mr. Trudeau, that is) owes obedience and respect. One would not have thought so, as John Robson points out, as Trudeau sauntered in to lecture the Holy Father, demanding, or perhaps requesting, yet another ‘apology’ for the Residential School crisis. Mr. Robson, who does not profess Catholicism, seems to have a clearer idea of what it means to be a Catholic than Trudeau, who does profess Catholicism. Trudeau should realize that the residential school was more a government project than ecclesiastical, and that Pope Benedict already offered an ‘apologia‘ for anything members of the Church did that was wrong.
I wonder what the two leaders talked about, besides the usual tiring trope of climate change and cultural diversity, that is. Euthanasia? Abortion? Evangelium Vitae? Formal and material cooperation in evil? The nature of evil itself, intrinsic, physical spiritual? The principles of the relation between the natural moral law and positive human law? What is entailed in the common good? Canonical requirements to receive Holy Communion?
Yes, one wonders, and one hopes. The optics of Trudeau’s insouciance towards the moral teachings of the Church is a true and unarguable scandal, to himself, as well as to so many untutored and impressionable others. When spiritual neophytes, the young and the old, see Trudeau march up and receive Holy Communion, without penalty, without rebuke, without any apparent feedback, what are Catholics to think? We are heading rapidly towards the very depths of the culture of death, and few of our leaders seem to heed, or to be putting any kind of brake on our descent.
Perhaps Trudeau did receive a rebuke from the Holy Father, but his usual smirking grin in the photo-op afterward, with the Pope’s (apparently customary) stony-face, gives one pause. Then again, Trudeau did not effuse, as did the non-Catholic Trump, that it was the ‘honour of a lifetime’; I am rather sure it wasn’t for Pope Francis either.
Ah, well, there is always prayer and sacrifice, the hidden battle within the realm of the spirit, which is really what this war is all about. By any objective standard, Mr. Trudeau is on the wrong side of that battle, and we should pray that he switches allegiances soon. For that grin won’t last forever.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→